The snow which had fallen had now drifted together so compactly as
to form an excellent building material. I therefore set to work, with
the assistance of Lund and Hansen, to erect a building in which we could
make the absolute magnetic observations during the winter. A site for
this was chosen at a distance of 250 feet from the Variation House,
and it was built in the direction of the magnetic meridian. We fetched
the building material from a neighboring valley, where the snow had
been swept together in a hard mass in large quantities. The building
was to be 26 feet long by 6 feet 6 inches wide by 6 feet high. The blocks
were cut out of the snow with a saw. An idea of the compactness of the
snow may be gained from the fact that these blocks weighed on an average
2 cwt. each. When we came to put on the last tier, three men were required
to hoist the blocks into position. A roof of thin transparent cloth
was subsequently made up and put over the erection. We thus obtained
an excellent building for the absolute magnetic observations. [Amundsen,
Vol. 1, pp. 107-108.]